It's my belief that people attract the items they're meant for. Take me for example. Just the other day, I was in a nearby dungeon and found an item that turns inanimate objects into living beings. Tofu based slimes are now one of our top sellers. Coincidence?

-Basen Koh on destiny

An earthquake the night before meant that practically everyone in the little town of Glarrus left town in the morning. It wasn't a matter of safety. It was a matter of opportunity. When the lands surrounding the Broken Swamp shifted, there was always an opportunity. Sometimes, a quake opened new passages to unexplored ruins. Occasionally, hidden treasures were revealed.

Reid Aveno and his friends were technically ditching one of their last days of school, but chances were high their teacher wouldn't have shown up anyway. People were up at dawn, as soon as it was light enough to see any changes to the landscape. Even the greediest of men who grew up in these lands knew they needed to be able to see clearly. As Reid's father liked to say, opportunity was never far from danger.

The Broken Swamp wasn't easy to cross. Before it had been a swamp, it had been a city of immense size. How it had ended up becoming a swamp was a mystery. Fetid water and masses of moss and algae floated between partially submerged stone walls and pillars. It was more bog than swamp, really, but the name had stuck. Traveling across the swamp required specific routes. Delving into the heart of the swamp required the willingness to get wet.

Reid splashed through a shallow pool behind his friend and cousin, Samuel. They peered into the waters around them and tried to spot anything unusual. Newly revealed stone would often be free of the swamp growth, and any freshly exposed ruin could reveal treasures hidden away in the cracks. Two more boys from their class, Orin and Wes, were farther ahead, scouting for changes in the distance. They were all intimately familiar with the swamplands. There wasn't much to do in an out of the way border town like Glarrus, so swamp hiking was a common pastime.

Two hours of nothing wasn't so bad, but they regrouped to talk on top of a flat, dry circle that might have been the top of an ancient tower, now buried under thousands of years of muck.

"Should we head down to Fells?" Orin asked. He was the youngest of them, only fifteen.

"No way," Samuel said. He was the oldest and the broadest at eighteen. "Fells is going to be packed. There might be more than one group there already. It'll be picked clean before we get there."

Everyone in town had the same idea. Find lost treasure. Most often, that came in the form of rare and powerful magic items. They were rare but regularly found in the Broken Swamp, particularly after an earthquake or flooding. The Fells was a notable area as it had somehow never been flooded by the swamp. It was a labyrinth of corridors that didn't seem to go anywhere. Even so, whenever there was an earthquake—once or twice a year—someone always found an item in the Fells.

"Should we head toward the center? People might not go there right away," Wes said. He was the same age as Orin at fifteen, but his birthday was in a week, and he was just behind Samuel in size, so Reid often forgot he was younger.

"Because it's a pain in the ass to get to," Reid said. Like his cousin, he was eighteen, but he had never filled out, and if his father was any indication, he never would. Still, he was tall, and the others looked to him for leadership. "But you're probably right. If we want something good, we go there."

He looked around to the others. Samuel nodded along with Wes. Orin looked hesitant.

"I've never been to the center. Ma said it's dangerous without protection."

"Your Ma's a smart lady," Reid said. "But we should be fine together. You need to watch out for Bog Lurkers, but they're really cautious. They won't bother a whole group."

"Aye," Samuel said. "We won't need to worry about them, but we will need to watch out for pits. The center is dangerous because of the dead zone and pits. There's a ring around the center where we'll have to swim—that's the dead zone—maybe a hundred feet. After that, we need to move slowly, but we'll be doing that anyway."

"What are pits?" Orin asked.

"You only find them in the center," Reid said. "You can't just run through the area. Sometimes your ground," he stamped his foot on the ancient stone roof for emphasis, "will fall into a pit. The whole thing sucked under the muck. It's rare, but it can happen. Most people think the whole dead zone fell into pits and that it used to have structures like the rest. Just stay together. It's safe if we follow the rules. We'll be fine."

Orin looked perhaps less certain than before, but they all finally agreed and headed toward the center, due north. The trek would take about an hour or a little longer since they were still keeping an eye out for treasure along the way. During the trip, Reid couldn't help thinking about what he might find.

Most people out of town were looking for a couple different reasons. The first was mostly of concern to the adults. They wanted to sell any treasure and live in comfort for the rest of their days. It could happen if they found something rare enough. The second reason was mostly why the younger crowd searched with so much determination. They wanted to find a powerful magic item that they could use. They dreamed of becoming mages and going to the capital to train, swear fealty to the king, and join his army. Or maybe they dreamed of simply becoming a legend. Power and notoriety.

That last part resonated with Reid, but not for the same reason as most. Since he was a young boy, Reid had dreamed of becoming a merchant. He often thought of it as a little silly, but he'd always admired the traveling merchants that came through town. They delighted with their wares and helped with their knowledge and wisdom. He didn't know if his imagined ideals were actually reasonable or common or if they were just his small town perception of what merchants were like. He wanted to follow them anyway.

The idea of power resonated because at the heart of any merchant was their wares. If he wanted to be a merchant known far and wide, he needed inventory to back that up. In the world, having magic items was the same as having power, so it wasn't enough to just find a magic item to sell. Often, the only way to gain more magic items was to go to dangerous places and dig them up. He couldn't just sell the first thing he found—not unless it was worth enough to get him started. There were thousands of possibilities in front of him. All he needed was something to start with. That's what he searched for today.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Reid's musings passed the time until they arrived at the dead zone. He looked across to the center. It was an area around a mile wide and roughly circular. It was easy enough to see straight across the entire area from outside the dead zone since only a few of the ancient structures rose very high out of the muck here.

"Is that...." Orin said, trailing off.

"Our ticket to treasure?" Samuel said, grinning. "That's the center. Rarely picked through. Should be ripe for a search. What do you think, Reid?"

Reid grinned back at his cousin. "Let's find some treasure."

They swam across the dead zone. Swimming was a core skill in Glarrus, so they crossed without issue. Reid spotted a bog lurker halfway, panicking for a moment before realizing it was swimming away at speed. He'd have to kick himself for not double checking for the creatures before they were in the water.

Once they made it onto a bare patch of earth, a few of which did manage to peak above the water line, they sat down to rest. Orin and Wes were chatting about what they were hoping to find, and Reid leaned over and whispered to Samuel.

"Did you see that bog lurker?"

Samuel looked around quickly.

"Out in the water, Sam. It was swimming away from us."

Samuel let out a breath. "Whew. I didn't. We should have checked. Damn. I don't want to think about what that thing would have done to us on open water."

Reid nodded. "We should keep an eye out though. Never know if we'll find a nest."

The converse to what Reid's father often said also held true in the Broken Swamp. Where there was danger, there was usually treasure. Bog Lurkers sometimes collected items and brought them back to their nests. They couldn't use the magic, but they might have just liked that they glowed.

When they were rested, Samuel led the way with the younger boys in the middle and Reid bringing up the rear.

"Test with a stone, then with a foot, then with a hop," Samuel said to remind them.

He tossed a rock onto the next section of wall they would be walking on. It bounced off without issue. Then he put a foot on it for a few seconds, leaning on it. Finally, he jumped onto the wall and immediately jumped back. When the wall didn't move, he stepped up onto it and waited for ten seconds.

"We'll move like this. Only one person every ten feet on a wall, and only one person on a smaller platform at a time. Don't go through the water unless you have to. We can't test the ground beneath easily."

They followed cautiously.

Ten minutes into their sweep, they found their first discovery.

"Look! Look!" Orin said, excited. A faint glow beneath the water to their right.

"Nice spot, Orin!" Samuel said. "Do you want to get it?"

"What!?" Orin said, growing pale. He was still a little nervous but getting better.

"I'll grab it," Reid said. "I've got the stick anyway."

They'd broken a branch off of a dead tree. The swamp wasn't kind to the trees, and they usually didn't grow more than six feet before dying. Fortunately for swamp hikers, the dead trees made for good walking sticks. Reid stuck the four foot branch into the water near the glow and poked around for a minute, testing the ground for weakness. Once he decided it was safe, he slowly lowered himself into the water.

The water was cold. The swamp water was always cold, but this was another level. His teeth started to chatter, and his feet grew numb faster than normal. It wasn't quite right. That only made him more excited. He began feeling around before his hands went numb.

"You alright, Reid?" Samuel asked. "You're turning blue."

"I th-think the i-item is c-c-cold aspected."

He grabbed at the glow, pulling away patches of moss but grabbing nothing of substance. His hands lost all feeling, and his vision began to darken around the edges. Just when he was going to give up to get out and warm up, his hand closed around something solid. He couldn't feel it, but he was holding something. He hauled it out of the water and into the air.

As soon as it left the water, the cold seemed to recede. His numb extremities didn't get better immediately, but he was no longer in danger of passing out. He looked up.

Shining in his fist was a glowing blue goblet. His friends cheered at the find and helped him out of the water. They shouldn't have been crowding on the wall, but the excitement of the find pulled them in. Wes gave Reid his cloak to keep the wind off while he warmed up. They had just swum not long ago, so it was wet too, but it was better than nothing. Their clothes would dry quickly, the benefit of being made from swamp grass fibers, but it wasn't magic, not like the goblet.

"What is it?" Orin asked, holding the cup.

"It's glowing pretty strongly," Wes said. "Does that mean it's powerful?"

"No," Samuel said. "Just means it hasn't been used in a while. Most everyday items are one and two star. It's cold. Maybe it keeps drinks cold, and that's why the water was so cold."

Reid nodded his agreement but focused on his shivering instead of trying to speak. Orin looked disappointed. Reid understood, but this also wasn't the first time he'd found an item. Not everything was a magic sword that could cut anything in two. Most things were normal stuff that provided convenience. They were still valuable.

"It's a good find, Orin. Put it in your bag, and let's keep moving," Samuel said, not letting Orin mope. "We'll get it properly identified when we get back."

Reid was mostly back to functioning. He had color and felt mostly warm, with a slight chill that he expected he wouldn't shake until he went to bed that night. Wes told him to keep the cloak a while longer, and Reid was thankful for it. He needed a cloak.

They stood up as a group and then moved, returning to their careful ordering. Samuel went first, then Wes, Orin, and Reid. Spaced out once more, they moved inward, following the line of walls they were on. They stopped and scooped up another glowing item. It was a small white rock that they couldn't tell anything about. It wasn't quite as exciting as the goblet, but the fact that they had already found two items was astounding. Reid stowed it in his pack, and they moved on.

They passed a window that belonged to a half submerged building. They debated for a minute, unsure if the light beyond a wall inside was coming in from outside or caused by an item. In the end, prudence won, and they didn't try to find out.

One of the general rules of swamp hiking and exploration was that other than the Fells, no one should ever enter a submerged building farther than they could reach. Often, items were found in buildings, but the finder would either cobble together a net to reach or hang onto the edge of a doorway or window to grab the item if it was close. Entering an unstable building in the Broken Swamp was the easiest way to die.

They reached what Reid thought of as the absolute center. The center of the center. Middle center. Swamp central. He'd have to work on his naming if he hoped to be able to sell anything.

From here, they could head outward in any direction, assuming they could more or less make a path. Samuel dug in the muck for more testing stones while the other three picked a direction.

Ultimately, Orin and Wes won out over Reid. He had wanted to continue straight and then loop around closer to the edge, trying to maximize the space they could see at any given time. Orin and Wes didn't want to stay wet, which Reid thought was rich. They weren't the ones recovering from mild hypothermia. Their preferred route was following some more pronounced buildings. The rooftops would be dry.

"Good idea. They're higher, too, so we should be able to see farther," Samuel said. It was a good point Reid hadn't thought about.

They set out, sticking to the same order. Samuel was a vigilant young man, so keeping him in front made a lot of sense. Since he was first, that left Reid as the second oldest and most experienced in the swamp to take up the rear once more.

Reid had to admit the trek was much easier across the ancient stone roofs. They were five platforms into their new path when Reid jumped onto a small tower roof that Orin had just left.

He landed, and the ground shifted. The unexpected movement ruined his balance, and he began to fall onto his back.

Instead of his back hitting the rooftop, as he had expected, Reid just fell and fell and fell. The sound of his friend's screams was the last thing he noted about the world before the pit closed around him.